“Hey, Scotty. Jesus, man!”
Dear Christian filmmakers: stop forcing the gospel into every scene.
A common misconception among Christian artists is that preachy art qualifies as good art. This is far from the truth. Today, I’ll discuss the glaring issue with our current approach to art and what actual Christian art should look like. I’ll break down three examples of painfully preachy films—but stick around, because near the end, I’ll show you one Christian film that actually nails it.
Most Christian artists are mistaken in thinking that being a good Christian means putting Bible verses and referencing Jesus in every story they write. Not only is that not how good stories are written, but it’s counterintuitive and undermines our faith, and I’ll explain later why this approach isn’t just bad storytelling—it might actually be pushing people away from Christ.
First, we have to define what I mean by preachy.
Part 1: What do we mean by “forcing the gospel”?
If you’re a Christian filmmaker and you give more sermons than your pastor, we need to talk. The whole point of storytelling is to hook the audience into a story that moves them and takes them on a journey, not to cram the story with as many references to Jesus as possible.
Conservative Christians have a bad reputation in film and media because we’ve turned movies into cinematic Sunday sermons. This is a direct contrast to how Jesus told his stories, which we’ll get to in the next section.
Before we dive into the film breakdowns, let’s get clear on what ‘forcing the gospel’ actually looks like—because once you see it, you won’t unsee it.
Namely,
- Unrealistic, sudden, or cheesy conversion scenes
- Monologuing about Jesus or faith instead of showcasing real growth
- Pausing for a sermon to “make a point”
- Minimal effort is put into creativity, or in other words, doing the bare minimum.
Ready to cringe a little? Let’s look at some of the most notorious examples of forced gospel messaging—and why they fail on every level.
God’s Not Dead has been criticized into the ground, so instead, I’ll discuss its sequel, God’s Not Dead 2.
The entire basis of this movie is that of a school teacher who is tried in court after mentioning Jesus in her class. The evil lawyer of the opposition states his objective clearly: “We’re going to prove once and for all that God is dead.”
Now, I’m all for a big, bad villain, but mainstream faith-based media has caricatured it in such a way that it comes off very one-dimensional. In essence, they have mastered the art of making their audience feel seen and heard by way of speaking to their victimhood. In movies like these, the Christian is always the persecuted figure, always being trampled on, always a victim.
This kind of writing encourages a victim mindset. While it’s true Christians have been persecuted at one time or another, we are by no means persecuted in the modern world to the degree the early Church was. For that matter, third-world countries have more persecution than we do in our comfortable lives in the West.
So while portraying reality is applicable, encouraging Christians to act like victims and treat every possible conflict as public enemy #1 is not. How do you think that affects their interactions in the day-to-day? Most non-believers I’ve met aren’t bothered by our faith, simply because they aren’t the caricatured version we find in faith-based movies. The atheists in these movies are made this way to make the moms and older demographic feel good about themselves, and obviously so. The bad guy is always spelled out, as if the audience isn’t smart enough to read between the lines. But what happens when you keep spoon-feeding the audience like this? You train them to stop thinking. And that’s where the real damage begins.
The second scene is from Saving Christmas, directed by Darren Doan and starring Kirk Cameron.
This scene has two shots, both facing the two characters. No creative angles, no flashbacks, no shots to give context to the environment, just shot, reverse-shot, shot, reverse-shot. Over and over again. To add insult to injury, the acting has no character to it either. It’s bland, and if you’re like me, you started to tune out as you were watching it. This is very simply, a lack of creative effort. That is not because, as some commenters have told me, that Christians are out of creative juice–far from it. It’s because the focus was on conveying a message, and a bland one at that. It’s not interesting even in the slightest, and that stings for me to say about fellow Christians. At the same time, we cannot continue to tolerate this lack of creative effort.
In Scripture, we read that when God had the Israelites build the tabernacle and craft the priestly garments, they were pleasing to the eye, wrought with gold and fine gems. On top of that, when I took the time to study human anatomy, I was amazed at all the intricate systems and details God has made within our bodies. It’s simply awe-inspiring to behold. THIS is the God we serve, not the bland, tasteless creativity we see in faith-based movies. Our God is a God of beauty, and by making ugly, uninteresting movies, we are spitting in the face of how he has designed art to be, because he creates works of art, and faith-based movies are sermons, not art.
And here’s the tragic irony—this film didn’t fail because of budget. It failed because the story came last. And when you put story last, everything else falls apart.
But then comes a curveball—a Christian film that looks amazing, and almost gets it right… until it doesn’t. Introducing Miracles from Heaven.
Now, the first thing that I must note: this is very well produced. I think this already proves my point that Christians are 110% fully capable of making well-crafted movies. But here’s where this movie falls short: the message. The cute little speech the main protagonist makes at the end of the movie feels hand-tailored for believers, and believers alone. I think that’s all well and dandy, but when that comprises all of the movies we’ve made, there’s an issue.
One critic says, “To have it suddenly blatantly preach to the converted and to the converted alone is a missed opportunity of massive proportions…”
And here’s the question we all need to ask: if every Christian movie is only meant for Christians, then what exactly is the mission?
What makes zero sense to me is that, as the critics before mentioned, we are preaching to converted audiences. This is echo chamber evangelism. Why are we trying to convert people who already know Christ? Not only does it make no sense, but it alienates non-believers as well. Its feel-good message is only there to make the faith-based audience feel good about themselves. Get a “yes, and amen” out of your audience, and that’s your job done.
But here’s the real kicker: none of this works. And the reason why might not be what you think.
Part 2: Why it doesn’t work
Audiences aren’t dumb. They know when they’re being preached to. It’s obvious and induces eye-rolling every time. And it’s not because “they just don’t get it” or “we need to preach the gospel because Jesus told us to”. It’s because you’re treating your audience like they’re robots.
There’s a difference between having a strong message and preaching, which disrupts the story’s rhythm, prioritizing messaging over the characters, conflict and resolution, emotions and transformation. Chances are, people aren’t going to see your character monologing about Jesus and suddenly convert to Christianity. Conversion comes from real heart change, and you don’t get that by caricaturing life as “atheists = bad” and “Christians = good.” That’s honestly a childish and oversimplified way to portray life. Some atheists could give Christians a run for their money. Likewise, there are Christians who say they believe in God, but don’t give a red dime about him.
The issue is not portraying our faith–I firmly believe that we should be unapologetic about it. The issue is when we prioritize the message over the story, and in just a minute, I’ll show you how Jesus himself handled storytelling—and it’s the complete opposite of what modern faith-based filmmaking does.
I often get comments from well-meaning Christians who say that the Gospel takes precedence over everything, including storytelling. They say that to focus on the story first, and the message second, is to favour the narrative over Christ. Some might go as far as to say it is sinful. However, the point of storytelling is not to hit your audience over the head with systematic theology (“You gonna hit me with your Jesus stick?” Charlie to Mr. Eko in Lost).
Have you ever noticed how Hollywood is copying faith-based media? Not only do they preach down to people who don’t agree with their ideology, but they pander to a self-righteous and small-minded audience. Hollywood is merely copying from faith-based media. The preachy messaging, pandering to middle-aged Christian moms, the invariably sterile and clean image, and if you dare speak against it, you’re not a Christian because you’re now defying the “Christian image”. And if you’ve ever felt weird watching one of these films with your non-Christian friends, now you know why—it wasn’t made for them. That’s the danger when selfish and greedy so-called Christians monopolize Christian entertainment and pander to a narrow-minded audience.
To make things worse, their weak theology is being upheld as Christian theology as a whole. Those with weak theology feel good about themselves, and those with a strong faith feel isolated and misrepresented. So if you’re a Christian artist with a real faith and real storytelling chops, this is your moment, because we need you now more than ever.
This problem is glaringly obvious to those observing Hollywood and other corporations. It’s an inescapable truth that they are sacrificing good storytelling in favour of drilling their audience with the “facts.” Yet somehow, inexplicably, this is okay for faith-based media since we’re telling people about Jesus.
A bad movie is a bad movie. It doesn’t matter how much you try to slather it in sugar. You can tie a bow on a turd and make it look pretty, but it’s still a turd. And deep down, I think we know this. We’ve just convinced ourselves that sincerity makes up for bad art. It doesn’t.
Part 3: What Scripture actually shows us
This next part might surprise some of you: God doesn’t just tolerate storytelling. He chooses it as his primary method of communication.
Up to 70% of the Bible is comprised of visual imagery, narrative, and story. The Bible isn’t a book of systematic theology; it’s God’s love letter to us, and his primary way of communicating is through visual narrative. If that’s not convincing enough, Jesus himself told stories. Some people misunderstand these as hyperliteral analogies that have no application to storytelling whatsoever. But the Bible has graphic, nuanced, and layered narratives.
Take this parable as an example and pay attention to the verses highlighted in red:
(Matthew 18:23-35)
Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. 26 The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ 27 Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.
28 “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down [a]at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you [b]all.’ 30 And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. 31 So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. 32 Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. 33 Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ 34 And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.
35 “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother [c]his trespasses.”
This parable is a visceral illustration of what happens to those who are self-righteous and unforgiving of others. Jesus simply could have said, “forgive those who do evil to you, or there will be consequences,” but instead, he takes the time to hook his audience in with a story that has emotional gravity to it. Verse 34 is the most haunting: The wicked servant is not simply punished, but he is delivered to the torturers to be mutilated until he pays his debt. Storytelling leaves a lasting impression where words are forgotten.
The Bible is not just a sourcebook for theology; it’s a visual narrative with truth layered into it. Storytelling is powerful, and the truth is magnified when it is woven into a masterful narrative. That’s why Jesus used parables and fictional stories as his primary method of teaching. They cause you to use your imagination and experience it firsthand.
God created us to be creative as he is, which means having the ability to tell stories through music and the visual arts. So if God loves stories and has made us to tell stories, what does Christian storytelling look like in practice? Stay until the end because the movie I’m about to show you is perhaps one of the most important examples we’ll look at today.
Part 4: The better way to tell Christian stories
We all have stories that we love, whether a fantasy novel or a sci-fi movie. All our favourites have one thing in common–actually, they have many, but we’ll focus on one: They all focus on hooking us in with characters that we relate to and move us emotionally.
Emotions are powerful, and when you harness them effectively, you can influence the person engaging in your art.
This is why, when you’re watching a horror movie, you feel the thrill of the mystery behind the monster. This is why in The Lord of the Rings, when you see the Rohirrim marching to certain death, you get chills and goosebumps. Emotions drive emotions, and seeing a story with weight behind it impacts us in a way a lecture never could.
A good example of this is Hacksaw Ridge. Despite the overt Christian themes, nowhere is the Gospel preached in the movie. In fact, we see the fruit of the Gospel in the main character, Desmond Doss, and his actions to save over 70 men on the battlefield despite not having a gun to defend himself with.
This movie barely takes any time to mention Scriptures or Jesus. Instead, we see it in Desmond Doss’s actions in contrast to the environments he is placed in. Take this scene, for example, when he refuses to carry a gun because of his conscience.
I came out of this movie feeling more moved than I ever did with God’s Not Dead. The takeaway here is that by crafting stories that take your audience on a journey instead of spelling it out for them, you will be glorifying God and building His Kingdom.
So, the next time you watch a movie, observe how the character changes and then inspect how you feel in response to what you see. When the character goes through a break-up, do you feel the sting? When the villain is on their tail, do you feel the thrill?
The best stories not only have amazing characters, but also fuel character transformation in ourselves. That’s why when you finish an awesome movie or book, you feel like a different person than when you started. That’s exactly what God does with his storytelling. All throughout the historical accounts in Scripture with King David, Samson, Esther, Ruth, and others, you relate with the characters and are engaged in their story. All the while, God is weaving the truth throughout in a way that pulls you in.
Gospel themes don’t always need to be spelled out to be powerful. Seeing King David overcome Goliath in the face of sheer death is thrilling and impactful. Simultaneously, we know that his courage came from God and he empowered him to overcome Goliath. God doesn’t pause the story to lecture us–he shows us.
Here’s the key: simply by making a good story, you will reflect your worldview and glorify God. If you are a Christian, your beliefs will naturally be a part of your work. We reflect the image of God, so that means we naturally crave and want to craft stories that mirror the way he makes them. That’s why saying faith-based movies are the only way Christians can make movies goes against the way God tells stories.
LOL Amen, brother! Amen!